414 



DB. J. MTIEIE ON THE SKULL OF 



The skin and snout-membrane from the eyes forwards were 

 intact ; and the palatal membrane was also in a perfect state of 

 preservation, though dried. Slight injury had been sustained in 

 the bones of the left supraoccipital and postparietal region; but 

 as tissue held this fractured area together, it did not materially 

 interfere with the examination and comparison of the cranium. 

 Having softened the hardened tissues by soaking the specimen 

 in water for a few days, I could well make out the natural appear- 

 ance of the nostrils and mouth and of the palate -ridges. These I 

 made sketches of, and meanwhile compared the objects themselves 

 with the excellent illustrations of Prof Paul Gervais * of the 

 Echidna of New Guinea, Echidna {Acanthoglossus) hruijnii. 



The orifices of the nostrils of Capt. Armit's specimen are 

 shorter and more triangular than in Gervais's sketch of those of 

 the Northern New-Guinea animal. In this respect they rather 

 agree with the representation given by Mr. E. P. Eamsay f of his 

 Echidna {Tachyglossus) lawesii of Southern New Guinea ; but 

 they equally correspond, so far as I can make out, with the common 

 Australian form, E. hystrix. I may note that there is a tiny ele- 

 vation or nipple-like process at the posterior end of each orifice, 

 which seems absent in Acanthoglossus, and, I believe, is not men- 

 tioned by writers as present in the older known species of 

 Echidna. 



Prof. Gervais figures the moutb of E. hruijnii as longer and 

 narrower, and with a decidedly more lanceolate lower lip than 

 obtains in Capt. Armit's Queensland specimen, where, as in the 

 common Echidna, upper and lower lips have a roundish contour 

 and the oral opening short and relatively widish. In this Queens- 

 land Tachyglossus, from the tip of the snout to the angle of the 

 moutb measures 0'4 inch ; the width of mouth-opening 0*25 

 inch, and the snout width 0*35. In T. lawesii, Mr. Eara«ay 

 gives the corresponding dimensions as 0*45, 0"3, and 0*5 inch re- 

 spectively. In Acanthoglossus the measurements are 0*8 inch, 

 0'2 inch, and 0'32 inch, as derived from Gervais's fig. 3, pi. vi. 

 Thus the two former offer nearer approximations, and, while dif- 

 ing from the latter, agree with E. {Tachyglossus) hystrix. 



As regards the character of the soft palate, Capt. Armit's spe- 

 cimen shows obviously, and at a glance, marked distinctions from 

 that depicted in pi. vii. fig. 5 of Gervais's illustrations of the 



' Osteograpbie des Monotremes vivants et fossiles,' Atlas, plates vi. & vii. 

 t " Note of a Species of Echidna ( Tachyglossus) from Port Moresby, New 

 Guinea," Proc. Linn. Soc. of New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 31, and pi. 



